


Sylvain and the Case of the Extremely Suspicious Activities of One Hilda Goneril

by magicalmartha



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:28:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23120242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicalmartha/pseuds/magicalmartha
Summary: The girls of the Golden Deer are up to something, and Sylvain is going to find out what it is even if it kills him (or Felix. Felix might kill him).
Kudos: 14





	Sylvain and the Case of the Extremely Suspicious Activities of One Hilda Goneril

It starts with Hilda and Marianne.

Sure, they’re both Golden Deer and have plenty of reason to hang around each other all the time. And yes, Professor Byleth does seem to pair them together for chores quite a lot. But Hilda is not a subtle creature, and Sylvain isn’t ashamed to say he enjoys the view whenever she’s around, so it isn’t long before he realizes that frequently, wherever Hilda seems to go, Marianne follows. Still, nothing would seem to be amiss, even when Lysithea ups their group to a regular threesome, huddled together at meals and linking arms in the hall.

It takes something drastic for Sylvain to realize, but...the girls are definitely hiding something. He figures it out when he tries to catch Mercedes’ attention in the entrance hall, as she walks past him with a basket over her arm

“Mercedes, do you have a moment?”

“Oh, Sylvain, I’m so sorry, can we catch up another time?” She moves past him easily, to where he can see Hilda and Lysithea waiting for her at the opposite end. She gives her basket to Hilda and all three of them waltz out into the sunshine.

Being brushed off by _Mercedes_? Quite possibly the most accommodating person in the abbey? Oh, no.

Something is going on, and Sylvain is going to find out what it is.

*

Sylvain is six feet tall with bright red hair. He is not used to being sneaky, and is therefore extremely bad at it. Felix watches him do some kind of awkward, crouched-down side step under the windows of the lower dormitory for several minutes before he decides that he simply has to put an end to it.

“Do I even want to know what the hell this is?”

“Augh!”

Felix is at least polite enough to help him out of the bushes. Sylvain straightens and shakes the leaves out of his hair. “I promise, this isn’t what it looks like.”

“In the entirety of knowing you, that has never once been true. Luckily, I don’t care.” Felix gives Sylvain’s jacket a tug, straightening it back into place, and then turns to leave. Sylvain almost trips again catching up with him, slouching down and jamming his hands into his pockets.

“I think the girls are up to something,” he says, out of the corner of his mouth. He’s being overly dramatic, there’s no one around them, but he’s in sleuth mode and it’s hard to break character at this point. Felix rolls his eyes.

“How is that news?”

Sylvain’s shoulders slump even lower, but this time with disappointment. “Because I don’t know what it is,” he whines. Felix punches him in the shoulder.

“You just don’t like being left out.”

Sylvain rubs his shoulder, pouting. “I bet Claude would help me out.”

Felix looks at him, sidelong. “One, there is not a chance on Earth that Claude doesn’t already know what’s going on. Two, there is not a chance on Earth that he would tell you, if it would make Hilda mad at him. Ask the Professor if you want. You’ll get no help from me.”

Hmm. The Professor. That’s not a bad idea.

*

“Absolutely not.”

Sylvain’s groan can be heard from space. Byleth closes the notebook she’s been lesson planning in and folds her hands under her chin. “I can think of about twenty-seven things off the top of my head that are a better expenditure of your time than ‘investigating’ what Hilda and Marianne do in their spare time.”

His eyebrows perk up a bit at that. “What about -”

“No, I will not go into town with you.”

He deflates again. “Do you even know what they’re up to? It could be mass hysteria! Burning down the greenhouse! Hilda might be _doing homework_ , Professor.”

“Yes, I know what they’re up to. No,” she holds up a hand, forestalling the question even as Sylvain starts to ask it, “I won’t tell you. Leave it alone, Sylvain. Go clean the library, weed the garden, occupy yourself with literally anything else today.”

He leans on her desk on one hand, winking in a gesture so audaciously flirtatious that she isn’t even mad. “Does that mean you’ll tell me tomorrow?”

The edges of Byleth’s mouth tweak upward, just barely, as she waves him out of the classroom. Sylvain is distracted for two whole hours thinking about it.

*

Sylvain loiters around their lunch table long enough for Hilda to stand, link arms with him, and guide him forcefully away.

“What are you _doing_ , you are _scaring the children._ ” She hisses. He looks around, confused.

“Who..? Oh, Marianne and Lysithea?”

She nods, her pink pigtails bobbing gently. “You are not subtle and you need to stop.”

He grins at her in a way that usually has girls turning red and stammering, and is not wholly unsurprised that she’s immune. “While I don’t have any idea what you mean, and I am as innocent as a white rose, I promise to stop following you if you just, you know…” his voice drops dramatically. “... _tell me all your secrets._ ”

“You’re creepy, I don’t like you, stop following us or I’m telling Dimitri.”

He’s wounded. Dimitri would totally overreact, and give him stable duty or something equally tiresome. He watches the girls leave, recognizes that he has passed some rubicon of rationality, and plots his next move.

*

It takes a few more days and seeing Ashe pouring over something in the library with Bernadetta that they hide from Sylvain when he approaches them before he fully loses it. That night, he lies in wait outside of Ashe’s room and then follows him when he leaves around 10:00 PM.

Ashe is halfway to the second floor dormitories before he stops, sighs, and turns around. Sylvain folds himself up inside a shadow from the lighting sconce, about four minutes too late to really be effective. Ashe pulls him into the hallway, his eyes wide and earnest.

“Sylvain, please, you must see that this is getting out of hand.” Sylvain squeezes Ashe’s hands back, just as sincerely, and thinks _Finally._

“You have the power to end this, Ashe. Do the right thing and I’ll protect you from Hilda.” He has a moment to register the utter ridiculousness of this whole conversation before Ashe blinks slowly, dramatically, and spills the beans.

*

Sylvain doesn’t know whether to be amused, confused, or...well, that’s about all he has the capacity for at the moment.

“A book club.” He says. “You’re running...a book club.” Hilda shrugs, daintily. She twirls a strand of pink hair around her finger, a gesture which she somehow makes vaguely threatening. 

“It’s fun! We drink cocoa and scare each other with ridiculous stories and sometimes people even read the books we pick.”

“Hilda, you barely read for _class_. This is like...starting an extracurricular club.” He looks at her, suddenly horrified. “Are you earning _extra credit_?”

She bristles at that. “I am perfectly happy to read materials that I find suitable for my personal growth. Here,” she said, shoving the book currently in her arms at his chest. “Not that I am saying you are invited, because you’re not, but if we were to break our first and foremost rule -”

“You let Ashe come!”

“- no boys allowed, Ashe gets to come because he brings cookies, you have to read the book first. We all agreed.”

She flounces away, and Sylvain looks down at the book’s cover. The image of a crumbling stone building at night, with a stormfront gathering in the background, is pressed into the leather. _The Haunting of Nuvelle Abbey_. Huh. 

This was going to be interesting.

*

To his surprise, he reads the book. It’s more entertaining than he thought, and unless he’s imagining it, the Professor goes a little easier on him when he admits to not finishing the homework after she eyes _The Haunting_ in his armful of books and papers.

*

Everyone collects in Hilda’s room at the end of the week, a few hours after dinner. Hilda assures him that everyone knows he’s been invited, but just in case, Sylvain gets there early - he doesn’t want to startle anyone by making An Entrance.

As they file into the room, they take up places clearly dictated by habit. Leonie turns Hilda’s desk chair around and straddles it, Ashe and Mercedes come in and lay snacks out on the windowsill before sitting underneath the window, shoulder to shoulder. Lysithea sits primly on an ottoman at the foot of the bed, crossing her ankles under her. Once Marianne slips in and closes the door behind her, Hilda starts the conversation like an orchestra conductor. Glaring at the crowd in her room from her bed, like some kind of pixie dictator, she brandishes the book at them.

“Okay, did everyone actually read the book this time, because I swear, what is even the _point_ -”

“Look, I got really busy -”

“Leonie!”

Leonie giggles. “No, I’m sorry, I did read it, I just wanted to see your face when -”

Hilda throws a pillow at her. “Anyone else have anything to confess?”

A general chorus of “I read it,” “I loved it!” “Good pick, Marianne,” goes up around the room. Mercedes passes mugs around, followed by a ceramic carafe. Hilda leans back, lounging on her bed, and props the book up on her knees. Sylvain stares at all of this unfolding.

“You guys do this every month? You all read the same thing just so you can talk about it?”

Six heads swivel to stare at him in the corner. Lysithea blinks. “Um, yes? That’s rather the idea of a book club.”

Mercedes tilts her head. “We also share our own experiences with the supernatural. As a kind of discussion topic?” Ashe and Mercedes both light up at that and start murmuring something to each other. Sylvain glares at them.

“Does Annette know you guys are...are...cheating on her with books?”

“Do you listen to yourself?” Hilda asks. She clambers over to put a reassuring hand on Mercedes’ shoulder, who suddenly looks guilty. “Annette’s not into spooky stuff. We take our membership very seriously.” Her eyes turn flinty. “Did you read the book, Sylvain? After working so hard to crash our party...did you read the book?”

He has two choices here. He did read it, and even kind of liked it. But reading a book, _for fun_ , every month, on top of school work, training, certifications, and everything else? Nah, he doesn’t think so. He feels the weight of all six pairs of eyes, and decides to cut his losses. He’s had his fun, he’s discovered the secret, but now it’s time to make a graceful exit.

He spreads his hands out wide, apologetically.

“Nah, just didn’t have the time.” He throws his arms up at the barrage of pillows that are thrown his way, laughing, and lets them hustle him out. He does snag a handful of cookies on his way out, they were baked by Ashe and he’s a human being, after all.

As he walks back down the hall to his room, he wonders idly if Felix believes in ghosts.

**Author's Note:**

> Might mess around and write more adventures of the Garreg Mach Supernatural Book Club, who knows


End file.
